Thursday, 26 November 2015

Specimen angler,
Duncan Charman, visits a different day-ticket venue each month and
explains how he gets the best out of his session. This month he
passes on some great tips in how to catch carp off the surface.

One of the most
rewarding and exciting ways of catching carp is off the surface and
with the longer, warmer days of spring allowing the water temperature
to rise, carp can often be found sunning themselves in shallow quiet
corners. The natural food larder is still far from thriving, all fish
are hungry so after a long hard winter it’s a brilliant time to
tempt these fish as their desire to eat overrides the need to
approach a bait with caution.

This doesn’t
mean they will be easy and one false move will see them spooking out
of the swim with memories of past captures, however gain their
confidence by patient feeding and it’s often the case of the flood
gates opening.

Shallow lakes are
often the best floater waters and Broadlands Lake in Hampshire is an
exceptional venue to tempt carp off the top, and it’s not always
the smaller fish that fall to this method, it’s the big girls too.
Probably the biggest mistake anglers make is being inpatient and
casting in to soon. The key in catching is to get one fish feeding as
this will result in more following suit. Once you have a group
happily slurping down everything you throw at them its time to make
that long awaited cast, yet another mistake is to cast right in the
middle of the feeding shoal. A hooked fish in this area will upset
the rest and after capture you will be right back to square one
again. What’s required is for a carp feeding on the outskirts of
the group to be targeted and by using a float that’s heavy enough
to cast well past them is needed. After casting out it’s simply a
case of easing the float slowly back into position ready for the
bite. When it comes the hooked fish can be steered away from the
others and a big edge is to keep some feed going in whilst playing
the fish. If you can master this then it will certainly catch you
more fish. If this isn’t possible then as soon as the carp is
landed fire more feed in before weighing and photographing the fish,
it really is once again a case of feeding ‘little and often’.

As for bait, well
you are spoilt for choice as some tackle firms have really gone to
town and grabbed surface and zig fishing with both hands. The days of
big lumps of crust being cast out have almost disappeared and
Pedigree Chum mixers have been copied to death, yet few have succeed
in bettering them. Bright coloured pop-up boilies are an alternative
but it’s probably floating pellets which come in all shapes, sizes
and flavours that has taken floater fishing to a new level, you can
even buy oils to coat them in which creates a slick! It’s even
possible to buy every bait mentioned in imitation form which allows
the angler to repeatedly cast without the fear of the bait flying off
at that vital moment. Although these modern day products can be
devastating I personally feel that the convenience of buying them
sometimes is the downfall of many an angler and I have to admit that
I wouldn’t leave home without a fresh white bloomer from the bakery
in my bag! Its just one of those baits, similar to sweetcorn, that
rarely if ever lets me down and when all else fails then it’s the
one that will turn a blank into a productive day. Some anglers have
gone one step further and found an even bigger edge simply by
colouring the bread green and the reason it catches more is because
it’s less visible to the wild fowl, namely seagulls. Another edge
is to mix modern and traditional baits together and one that has
served me well is to thread an artificial bread hookbait through a
big bit of crust, hook it and cast out. The carp often slurp away at
the bread greedily feasting on the bits that break off, drop their
guard and eventually the artificial hookbait will break off and well,
that’s when the clutch screams and the rod bends.

Whether your are a
modern or traditional surface bait angler, one thing that we all
benefit from is the advance in tackle available to us and probably
the biggest advance has to be mainlines and hooklinks. Once again
it’s a minefield for most anglers yet Nash ZigFlo is simply
brilliant as it not only floats but its light refractive index
creates a line that’s virtually impossible for a carp to see and
with minimal stretch means its more fish hooked. Float have also
advanced from the water filled bubble type to high-viz controllers
and more recently self-hooking Bolt Machines which have
revolutionised floater fishing at distance. Getting fish to feed, if
they are well out in the lake, is also now easy as baiting tools have
advanced big time from the trusted, or not so trusted catapult, to
spods, then spombs and now even baitboats! I must admit I still love
getting carp feeding close in, using a catty to feed and a piece of
crust as bait and to strike the moment those lips engulf my hookbait,
yet it the fish are at distance then I will readily tackle up with
all the mod-cons, well maybe not a baitboat, and catch them like
this. It’s really a case of having every option up your sleeve even
if it means becoming a modern purest!

If like me,
catching carp doesn’t float your boat, then there are other species
that can be caught off the surface, namely grass carp and rudd. Grass
carp are a great target and many club lakes such as Farnham Angling
Societies Bagshot Lea Pond offer the angler this diversity. Unlike
king carp that are quite aggressive feeder’s once preoccupied,
grass carp can be very tricky, circling and mouthing baits with
caution. The other problem is they don’t slurp around the surface
with their lips on show and mouths open, preferring to simply cruise
up to a bait, often out of sight, before just popping their snout out
and sucking in the bait. Timing a strike can often be a bit ‘hit
and miss’ however the Bolt Machine on a short 2ft hook length often
catches them out, especially when feeding at distance. Another way of
increasing the amount of takes is to use a yellow hookbait, such as a
small pop-up.

Rudd on the other
hand will be quite confident in taking a bait; the only problem is
that they tend to drift in and out of a swim which becomes
frustrating as often long periods of feeding are only rewarded with
short spells of catching. Floating maggots are brilliant fished in
conjunction with the smallest controller float however I’ve caught
a few once again using the Bolt Machines and one thing is for sure,
rudd seem to know what is real and what is fake!

So there you have
it, some new tips that will work in your favour this spring when you
fancy something different on one of those sticky, sunny afternoons.

Images –

1 – Look carefully, your being
watched!

2 - Surface fishing isn't all about small carp.

3 – Spring, a fantastic time to be
fishing.

4 – This Broadlands Twenty came off
the top.

4a – Bread, I wouldn’t be without
it and mixed with modern hookbaits can outwit the wariest of carp.

5 – This image of Stuart playing a
twenty pound Broadlands carp is what surface fishing is all about.

6 – Nash Bolt Machines have taken
surface fishing to the carp.

7 – Soak the Bolt Machine’s foam in
oil and it will create a perfect slick drawing carp in from a far.

8 – Surface baits come in all shapes,
sizes and colours.

11 – Grass carp create a challenge on
surface baits.

12 – Keep a first aid kit with you at
all times, especially when grass carp are around.